ATLANTA – The electronic component sales sentiment declined by 1.9 points in April, marking the second consecutive month of slightly lower results, but the outlook for May is considerably higher in the ECIA's monthly Electronic Component Sales Trend (ECST) survey.

Looking ahead to May, the sales sentiment is expected to jump to above 99, almost up to the breakeven level between declining and improving sales.

"This encouraging outlook may provide an early indicator that the market decline is easing and could see a turnaround in year-over-year performance before the end of 2023," said Dale Ford, ECIA’s chief analyst. "The overall component sales sentiment index dropped below 100 in June 2022. If the May 2023 expectations are realized, it would mark the strongest measurement since May 2022. The trends reported by the ECST index for Semiconductors are fairly consistent with the results reported by WSTS for the Americas. While the worldwide semiconductor market is suffering a ‘hard landing’, it is fair to say the Americas are achieving a ‘soft landing’ so far."

End-market results showed a strong improvement in April and a May index outlook above 100. Healthy results for the end markets are broad based, with a May outlook that predicts sentiment above 100 for Automotive, Industrial, Military/Aerospace, and Medical.

Product lead time trends in the latest ECST survey show a strong level of "stability." Some 68% of survey respondents saw Semiconductor lead times as stable, while Electro-Mechanical/Connector and Passive lead times were reported as stable by 65% and 60% of respondents, respectively. Overall, declining lead times were seen by 31% of survey participants. Increasing lead time reports remained very low at only 5% for the overall average. Given the overall assessment that inventory overhang is the greatest challenge facing the supply chain currently, product mix issues would appear to be the main contributor to any reports of increasing lead times as inventories balance out in the declining market.

The monthly and quarterly ECST reports present data in detailed tables and figures with multiple perspectives and covering current sales expectations, sales outlook, product cancellations, product decommits and product lead times. The data is presented at a detailed level for six major electronic component categories, six semiconductor subcategories and eight end markets. Also, survey results are segmented by aggregated responses from manufacturers, distributors, and manufacturer representatives.

Non-members can purchase the ECST report at https://www.ecianow.org/purchase-reports